On September 6, 2004, His Beatitude Lubomyr released the proclamation “On Approval of the UGCC Patriarchal System,” which justified the validity of the desire of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics to have a patriarchal structure for the church.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is one of the branches of the Church of Kyiv, which in 1596 restored full communion with the Roman Apostolic See. Today, the UGCC is the largest autonomous Eastern Catholic Church in the world.